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Bob’s Burgers (Season 3) TV Review

Bob’s Burgers is offering something that both The Simpsons and Family Guy aren’t. There is something about Bob’s Burgers that puts it ahead of their much bigger, more successful rivals but already, three seasons in, the quality of each episode and the growth in confidence seems to demonstrate that the show is onto bigger things.

The series biggest strength has always been it’s characters. Starting with the central family, Bob, his wife Linda and their three manic children couldn’t be more asserted, well-written and stronger as the focus of the show. Bob is still as neurotic, put-upon and desperate as ever, Linda is even more musical, more delusional and more loving but the stars are, and always have been, the three children.

The characters have really hit their stride this season

Louise is the slightly crazy, far too old-headed youngest child who demonstrates the lengths she will go to this season when her bunny ears are stolen. Gene is the hardest to pin down character wise as this season he goes from styling himself to look exactly like his Dad to writing a fantastic song about the love between Thomas Edison and an Elephant while the best of the show, Tina, is still as love-starved and crazy as ever, this time finding love in the freezer aisle. It is as strange as it has ever been but the bizarre thing about Bob’s Burgers is it is constantly rooted in all too strange reality.

There is nothing so crazy about Bob’s Burgers’ stories that you can compare it to it’s closest rivals. The characters don’t get brand new jobs each week (unless you count the children accidentally growing and distributing marijuana) and there isn’t a slew of bizarre pop-culture references or fantastical moments (although some of the strangest points are Tina’s fantasies). This strange rooting in the real world adds a charm to the show that we probably haven’t seen since King of the Hill.

There is always a bizarre realism to the episodes

The animation is as crude as ever but that is by the by when the quality of the writing is this good. The show is still very funny. This is partly due to the great scenarios the characters find themselves in but also the excellent cast they have backing it up. To think that both Tina and Linda are voiced by male actors (Dan Mintz and John Roberts respectively) is bizarre but it is the voice talents of H. Jon Benjamin that steals the series, as his desperate cries of “Linda” and the exasperation in his voice make the series.

This is my first time writing about Bob’s Burgers on the blog and if you haven’t seen it, I urge you to watch. The show has only grown in quality over the three seasons I have seen and although it is something of a cult hit at the moment (in the UK anyway), if you get the chance to catch even one episode, you won’t be disappointed.

If you haven’t managed to yet, definitely catch this series

Overall, Bob’s Burgers third season is a show highlight so far. The writing is as good as ever, the characters are concrete and holding the show steady and the stories are always bizarre but rooted in reality in a refreshing way. Knowing there is at least another five seasons on the way to the UK means that if you haven’t caught it yet, you definitely should.

Best Episode – Carpe Museum: Every episode has it’s moment but the episode when Louise and Bob go wild in a museum has some of my favourite parts of the series.

Best performance – H. Jon Benjamin as Bob

Should there be another season? –Without a doubt. A great show and one that has plenty of life left in it.